Last weekend our extended family had a spur-of-the-moment cookout.  My husband’s Aunt Pat had driven up from deep East Texas to spend the weekend, the weather was unusually mild for Texas in August, and my father-in-law was in the mood to grill.  We had to take advantage of that combination of events for a fun family get together.

I volunteered to bring dessert to go along with my mother-in-law’s homemade vanilla ice cream. Of course, it had to be peach cobbler, as I had several pounds of plump fresh peaches just waiting to be used.  There is nothing like the bright, sweet taste of  fresh summer peaches to make your taste buds sit up and take notice. They’re a miraculous fruit, a perpetual favorite in the south and across the country.

With my freshly-seasoned large cast iron skillet sitting on top of the stove at the ready, I went to work on a quick peach cobbler that could bake as I got ready for the day.

I used pie crusts that I had in the freezer for this cobbler; you could certainly make your own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure to choose fresh peaches that are slightly soft when pressed with your fingers; hard peaches have little or no flavor, as they’ve been picked too early.  Sniff peaches; they should have that lovely sweet peachy smell. Again, peaches that have been picked too early won’t have that scent. Don’t waste your money on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mama Steph’s Easy Peach Skillet Cobbler Filling

• 9-10 medium-to-large peaches, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 TBS fresh lemon juice (one medium lemon)

Method:

1.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt.

2.  Add peach slices to dry ingredients. Sprinkle lemon juice over slice peaches, and stir all together gently until peaches are coated with the sugar-cornstarch mixture.

3.  Grease iron skillet with butter or shortening. Place one pie crust into the skillet, and press firmly into the bottom, up the sides and then dock with a few pricks of a fork. (if using a 12 inch or larger skillet, you will likely need to roll crust out a bit to get the proper size to fit large skillet, as you will for the top crust.)

4.  Pour the peach filling into the crust in skillet.

5.  Top with second crust by laying it over the peaches and pressing around edges of skillet.  Prick top crust in a few places with fork.

6.  Bake at 350 degrees F until filling is bubbly and top crust is golden brown (about 45  minutes in my oven.)

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if you like.

You could definitely use drained canned peaches in this recipe, using two large (28 oz.) cans, if fresh peaches are not in season. The taste won’t be quite the same, as fresh peaches definitely have a bright, sweet tartness that canned peaches don’t have. However, the cinnamon (and maybe an added 1/3 teaspoon of ground nutmeg) will make this a wonderful treat in the fall or winter, too.

Enjoy!

You might also like:  A Gracious Plenty ~ Peach Pie

Vintage Peach Bread

Peach Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2013 Stephanie Hill Frazier. All rights reserved.